Housing Policy and Production Survey

The Housing Policy and Production Survey captures local efforts in developing and maintaining housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households through a variety of programs and services. Parts of this survey collect annual information required for participation in Livable Communities Grant programs, including:

• Livable Communities Demonstration Account
• Tax Base Revitalization Account
• Local Housing Incentives Account

The data collected is useful for understanding how cities are addressing their housing needs, and drives regional planning decisions that rely on the production of affordable housing. The Council will provide this data in a format so that Cities can see how their efforts and production compare to Cities across the region.

Parts of the Survey

The survey asks about a community's activities in the following categories:

• New affordable or mixed-income housing
• Preservation projects and rehabilitation projects
• Housing policies and ordinances
• Local or County expenditure of Affordable and Life-Cycle Housing Opportunities Amount (ALHOA)
• Housing Action Plan
• Shelter and Supportive Housing Stock

Why should I complete the Housing Policy and Production Survey?

Communities with regional sewer service are required to guide enough land at high enough densities in their Comprehensive Plans to support the development of affordable housing. Affordable housing constructed in the 2021-2030 decade will be counted toward a community’s need in their calculation of land guided for affordable housing. Community reporting is the most reliable and accurate source of information we have! If your community participates in LCA, reporting your ALHOA spent annually is a requirement of participation and the survey is our tool to collect that information. Starting in 2022, LCA participation also requires the completion of the Housing Action Plan, a series of questions about past, current and future actions a city/township is making to achieve their housing goals, which is collected in this survey.

The information communities provide in the survey is the BEST information we have in the region about affordable housing construction. The Council and others rely on this data not only for a report statutorily required annually to the legislature, but to make planning and policy decisions, direct technical assistance efforts, and share successes across the region.

Starting in 2022, the data collected in this survey will be formatted into a digital report for cities and townships to use to compare their initiatives to those of other cities and townships in the region.